


As the World Moves Past

by Rapis_Razuri



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Dimileth Week (Fire Emblem), Dimileth Week 2020 (Fire Emblem), F/M, Fluff, Future Fic, Modern Era, Pining, Reincarnation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-15
Updated: 2020-10-15
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:14:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27032509
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rapis_Razuri/pseuds/Rapis_Razuri
Summary: By now, it was instinct for her to plaster a well-practiced smile on her face and welcome the person that just entered.At least, that’s how it was in the absence of bright blue eyes that haunted her in her loneliest nights.In a world where tales of the Savior King have faded from history to myth, one bubble tea store owner gets a visit from an unexpected customer who is very,dearlyfamiliar.
Relationships: Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd/My Unit | Byleth
Comments: 14
Kudos: 148





	As the World Moves Past

**Author's Note:**

> Dimileth Week 2020: Day 4 - My Beloved

"Thank you! Come again!”

She stole a glance at the time. The store was to close at 1am on weekdays and the clock had just struck twelve. With the rain falling like it was outside, she cannot imagine that she would be getting many more customers until then. Or at least this was how she justified her actions to herself as she wiped her hands dry on her apron and set about to prepare for closing.

The sudden downpour annoyed her. She lived a few blocks away from the store, close enough to walk to and from the store everyday no matter the weather, but she had not been prepared for a downpour of this magnitude when the day started out so beautifully and had expected only light rain at worst.

There was a spare umbrella out back, but nonetheless, she was not looking forward to walking home in these conditions. More than that, rainy days always made her a tad… melancholic, as Flayn liked to say. Washing away the layers of masks to reveal the person she once was—and maybe who she will always be—beneath the surface.

She sighed and took her phone out of her back pocket. The store was empty save for her, so might as well change the music into something a little more _cheerful_ than the ambient sounds that’s been playing all day. She was in the middle of scrolling through her personal playlist when she heard the door open and the bell ring again. By now, it was instinct for her to plaster a well-practiced smile on her face and welcome the person that just entered.

At least, that’s how it was _usually._ Instead, her phone fell with a dull clatter as she felt her world, once again, turn upside down.

He noticed her reaction. “Ah, good evening,” he said awkwardly. Bright blue eyes that haunted her in her loneliest moments and long blond hair utterly soaked through and stuck to his face in a way that was painfully nostalgic… _Is_ _that really you?_ “You see, I… forgot my umbrella at home and well, would it be alright if I called my friend for a ride here?”

“Oh no. Please feel free,” she said hastily. “We close in an hour though. Just so you know.”

“Of course. And thank you.” He turned away to make his call and as soon as his back was turned, Byleth ducked behind the counter, supposedly for her phone, but actually, to catch herself with this sudden reunion. _Deep breaths, Byleth…_ She adjusted her visor and straightened her shirt. _Deep breaths. He doesn’t know you. You are a stranger to him. A… stranger…_

She stood back up. Noticing that he was finished with his call, she smiled brightly as she always did at her customers—though this time, something about it seems less fake—and asked, “Would you like something to drink as you wait?”

“Oh, um…” He squinted up at the menu displayed on the wall behind her. “I’ve never had bubble tea before. What would you recommend?”

Normally she would have suggested starting with the basic original milk tea with pearls, but she let sentimentality guide her and said, “Maybe the chamomile milk tea?”

He gave her a mystified look. “Chamomile is my favorite.”

“I’ve been told I have a knack for guessing what somebody likes to drink.”

“A skill like that must be useful in your line of work.” he observes with a hint of dry humor. “Chamomile it is. It should be interesting, trying something new.”

Nodding along, she tapped in his order on the register. “Would you like the tapioca balls?”

He answered with the air of somebody who has no idea what he was agreeing to. “...Sure?”

“Ice and sugar levels?”

“Regular for both.”

In this weather? But then, he always did have a higher tolerance for cold weather. That hasn’t changed either. He fished out his wallet to pay as she turned away to make his drink. It’s a task she could perform with almost no thought at all by now, but she finds herself being more careful than usual.

It’s not very personal, this method of preparing tea, but maybe that was for the better…

“Here you are,” she said, handing him his order with a blue straw. Glancing down at the register, she noticed that he left a tip. As generous as ever… It was such a silly thing to feel so happy over, but still… “Did you want your receipt?”

He shook his head before poking a hole in the cellophane lid and took his first sip. She tilted her head. “Well?”

“It’s good,” He smiled and Byleth felt her stomach flip in a way it hadn’t in centuries. “I can taste the honey you added, but the sweetness is not overpowering. I like it.”

“You can taste the honey?”

Her outburst earned her another odd look. “Was I not supposed to?”

 _Strike two._ Byleth let out a nervous laugh. “I…uh… For a moment there, I thought I got the recipe wrong. I’m a little out of it today. Sorry.”

Forgiveness for her slight comes quickly, though his face indicated he wasn’t buying her excuses. Mentally cringing, she forced herself to get back to work. This store was not going to close itself and the sooner she got home the sooner she could lose herself to dreams beneath her blankets and pretend this was just part of it.

He found himself a spot by the window where he could watch the street for his friend as he sipped away. She wondered who was coming. Sylvain? Felix? Or was it someone whose face she did not know at all?

She was in the middle of wiping the tables and lifting the chairs up onto them so she could mop the floors later when he approached her again. “The tea was delicious,” he said, almost shyly.

“I’m happy to hear it,” she replied. He had complimented her tea the same way the first time they shared a pot together all those years ago. She didn’t find out until later—five years later—that he’d been lying about the way it tasted. “Is your friend almost here?”

“So eager to be rid of me? Although I do understand wanting to go as soon as possible.”

She laughed. “Of course not,” she said. “I don’t mind if you stay a little longer after we close. I’m just worried they were delayed for some reason…”

“My friend is a very safety-minded driver,” he assured her. “If he’s late, it is likely due to caution.”

“I hope so. I would hate for them to get hurt while doing you a favor.”

“It’s kind of you to worry. For someone you might not even know.”

“Is it?” she asked, “It’s only natural for people to help and support each other when someone is in need.”

There was that odd look again. Just when she thought she’d said something normal for once.

Byleth took it as a cue to change the subject. “Do you think he would like a bubble tea too? On the house.”

He ended up ordering the pineapple ginger flavored one, but insisted on paying for it anyway. “He is going through this trouble for me,” he reasoned. “The least I can do is buy him a drink. Even if it’s not the most conventional kind of drink for us.”

Try as she might, she cannot stop herself from imagining him and rest, gathered together at a bar, drinking and laughing and having a good time as friends in this age do when they are together. In a way, she was torturing herself, letting her imagination get carried away like this, but she did not dare ask him for details of his life, his friends, his family even though she desperately wanted to know if this new life of his—if it _was_ a new life—was a happy one. She’s already said enough weird things to him for today.

His friend arrived just as the sealing machine presented her with the finished drink. He thanked her again, for the drinks and for keeping him company while he waited before reaching for the door—

“Wait!”

He looked back.

“I have an umbrella in the back,” she said, taking off her apron. “It’s raining so hard. Let me walk you out.”

He was surprised, but did not refuse her offer. “You’re just one kindness after another aren’t you?”

 _Kindness?_ she thought cynically. _Hardly._ Since the moment he entered, everything she’s done had been the actions of a very lonely woman. She thought she had come to terms with her longevity, but time after time, she was reminded of how even when she lived among humanity, she can never truly live _with_ them. Not anymore.

It was a little awkward, holding an umbrella for someone who was much taller than her while trying to keep her distance, but it was only for a little while. When she caught sight of the man in the driver’s seat, she waved hello in what she hoped was just a casual gesture of one stranger acknowledging another before the passenger door closed and they drove off into the night.

Alone, Byleth stayed on the sidewalk and watched for longer than she should have with a soft ache in her unbeating heart.

_How I long to hear you call me your beloved again…_

.

He kept watching the rearview mirror long after she and her royal blue umbrella were out of sight. Now more than ever, he was relieved Sylvain had not picked up after all. Cute female bubble tea waitress? Dimitri never would have heard the end of it.

“Dedue,” he said slowly, “May I ask you something?”

His friend was a man of few words, but always an attentive listener and a valuable source of advice. “What is it?”

_Sylvain would never let me live this down either._

“This may sound strange, but… do you believe in the possibility of past lives?”


End file.
